Re: librarian job description

[Ken Haycock <haycock@UNIXG.UBC.CA>]

There is no question that the turf war over technology in education has
begun; I hear and read about it every day as a school board member and
the library media specialist is rarely mentioned. Some could argue that
there are also gender issues, endemic to schools, in this move as well.
On another level, an alliance between language arts and
computer/technology teachers is developing suggesting that knowledge of
school librarians and libraries is so appallingly low that no change in
title will help without a major change in attitude.
We used to complain about becoming involved in "av" but we did, and well,
and where are the av specialists? It's time to see technology as another
tool and another [re]source for us and our teachers and students.
We've used "teacher-librarian" for years and find it largely successful;
some parts of Canada use "learning resource teacher" with success. My
preference is that someone research the perceived status of different
terms with school and school district administrators. A few years ago the
SLA found that corporate America saw "director of library services" as
more important than "information specialist" but that was five years ago...


Ken Haycock
School of Library, Archival and Information Studies
The University of British Columbia
831-1956 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC  V6T 1Z1
Voice: 604-822-4991  Fax: 604-822-6006
Internet: haycock@unixg.ubc.ca

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                Preparing Professionals to Exercise Leadership in
                Planning, Implementing and Promoting the
                Preservation, Organization and Effective Use of
                Society's Recorded Information and Ideas
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